Method of making character-plates



M. GUETT. METHOD OF MAKING CHARACTER PLATES. APPLlCATlON FILED APR.14, 1920.

1,357,046. Patented 001;. 26,1920

from the characters in some convenient way MonRoE eunr'r', or 1HAnrronp;oommcrrcor Mn'rnonor MAKING cnARAoritarLA'rEsi r Specification of Letters Iafl'txit.

[s im est fiia April 4, 152b, seria no, 373,846,;

To all whom it may come m: I

Be it known that I, MONROE Gonr'r, a citizen of the United Statesfresiding at Hart ford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Methods of Making ,Uharacter-Pla'tes, of which the following is a specification, 1 1

This invention relates to a method of making character plates, In carrying the method into effect I use desirably as atbase or foundation a piece of ferrous metalsuch for instance as steel or ironJThismetal foundation or base piece has desirably charactors usually obtained by embossing. The

embossing can be secured in any convenient 1 way. The base plate with its characters I to coat with some non-ferrous metal prefer such as nickel, copper, brass or zinc. This coatlng of non-ferrous materlalmay be ap-' plied to the ferrousbody in any one of several different ways, for instanceoby plating,

hot galvanizing or otherwise. After the non-ferrous substance is, applied CIIStOIIlEL.

rily to all of the exposed surfacesof the ferrous body, being usually applied to the face thereof, the non-ferrous substance is 're moved from portions of the body such as ordinarily however by a' grinding action. After the surface or surfaces have had the non ferrous substance removed, :I subject the coated article to heat treatment. This oxidizes the cleared portion or portions and makes a color or surface which appreciably and materially contrasts with that of the major part of the metal body. The ferrous metal body may function -in various fashions. One of several isto'put .characters'on it so that it will function as an index plate or dial in a rotary snap switch.

In the drawings accompanying and form 'ing part of the present specification I have illustrated one of the severalwavs of carry.- ing the procedure into effect. This will be ings and description. I may in fact depart therefrom in several respects within; the scope of the invention'defined by the claims following saidjdescription. Referring to saiddrawings: Figure 1 is a faceview ofa plate;

= of Fig. .1. I

:i Pa ent d Oct- 6 0- I Fig, crosssection onithe line 11-;

FigsB-isa viewcorrespondingsto 1 of a finished plate. I

Fig.4 is across section on the line 4:&

of Fig. 3. I V I Like ,oharacters refer to like parts throughout the several views which areon different scales.

In Fig. 1 I have am afplate 2. A1, though this plate is shown aslbeing in the form of a dialordisk to adapt the same for use in an electriclswitch, the invention,

asI have already noted is not restricted in this partlcular. The platexas shown, has on it the'raised characters 3. ,I have also observed the fact that it may not always be necessary to raise the. characters for they may be ,ofintaglio formation. As a mat ter of fact. the form of the plate and that of p the charactersthereon is an old onein electrio snap switches. This plate or body 2is of ferrous'materialof which steel and iron are illustrations.

The plate has desirablyfirst applied to it v a coating-4 of non-ferrous material of which I mention several. rial is applied to the entire exposed surface ofthe plate as indicated in 4. When this is done the protective coating 4 as represented is removed from the active face This non-ferrous mate-c of the characters 3. In theicmseillustrated this removal would be'off the topmost flat surfaceof said characters and the removal in grinding." V I I After the protective coating' is removed the article is subjected for instance about one minute to heat treatment for illustration by a furnace of some kind in which s I question is desirably accomplished by from the'exposed surface of the character,

is subjected to a' temperature of approxlmately between 500 and 600 degrees Fahren heit." This heat treatment oxidizes the ex faces of the characters 3. As I have observed used injdifi'erent'fields .and the article can be employed "with advantage in divers connections. As to the article I have menw n claim is:

1. A m'eth (1' involving a ferrousplate tion ed' oneuse and have also shown the:

centralopenings 5 to' receive the spindle of the method can be 1 00 *posedpart of the pl'atejwhich is the front vset forth in the following description] having characters thereon, comprising coat-i ing the plate With non-ferrous metal, then removing a portion of the non-ferrous coating from the ferrous plate, and finally subjecting the plate to heat treatment;

2. A vmethod involving a ferrous plate having characters thereon, comprising coating the plate with non-ferrous metal,.then* removing the non-ferrous metal from the charaotersancl finally subjecting the plate to heat treatment. v o

3; A method involving a ferrous plate dizing that part of the plate from which the non-ferrous coating has been removed;

In testimony whereof I affix my signaturein'the presence of two witnesses.

MONROE GUETT. Witnesses: t" 1 V 1 E E T. a MADELINE MUSSGNUG. 

